Rocket Cat Games comes through again in their hook racing franchise with Hook worlds! Now you can have fun with 3 new characters each with their own story and unique perks that guarantee you'll be "hooked" in no time.

Gameplay

In this Castlevania-ish 2D side scrolling game, you are once again called upon to jump, slide, swing, dive and rocketjump through endless corridors filled with deadly traps and enemies. There are four different worlds with four different characters in this Hook sequel, each world is tougher than the last. But you also get different items and perks to help you survive.

In the first and easiest world you play as Theodore "Gramps" Hooker which as many Rocket Cat Games fan knows, is the grandfather of Jake and Jakob. And like Jake and Jakob he also owns the famous Rocket Boots. In this world you are re-introduced to the familiar hook racing in both SQH and HC, a clever start to intro the sequel to the series fans. The second world though, things get interesting. In the 2nd world you play Zelle the Bounty Hunter who was betrayed by Gunny and left penniless. Desperate for money Zelle takes on a bounty to stop a gang of ghost pirates. When you play as Zelle you main focus is to kill the ghost pirates...with a gun. For all you trigger happy people, this world is perfect for you!

The third and my personal favorite world is Cyber Gnome 202X. In the year 202X, Gnomes are illegal for some crazy and unknown reason. With your trusty gravity belt and cyber hook in hand, you start out to run for your life! One fun element in Cyber Gnome 202X is that you not only have to avoid obstacles in order to evade the Gnome Cops who are determined to catch all pun saying Gnomes, but also use your Gravity Belt to flip gravity to avoid obstacles or getting caught. The new element makes the game feel fresh and challenging.

The 4th world is an early buyer bonus which is called Hook Champ 1000 which is a retro throwback of the original Hook Worlds. But be warned: this ain?t the repeat customer buffet line that goes easy on you. The Hook Champ 100 is insanely hard and you might find your self losing after 10 seconds of gameplay. In fact even the Developers classified this as "Unfair" difficulty.

Depending on how far you get in one world you can unlock items such as medals which look awesome on your character, but they don?t add much to your characters? abilities. You also accumulate points in each level and these points can unlock new hooks that look and function differently. The game also has Game Center support.

Graphics

Hook Worlds stays true to the look and feel of the Hook game franchise by giving the players a sort of retro look that reminds you the good times when Super Mario Bros and Castlevania 2D side scrollers were huge hits. In Hook worlds, Rocket cat Games out did them selves by bringing the lovable graphics that we all know and love. New worlds have their own looks and new moves are fun and smooth.

The controls are similar to the other hook games, but in hook worlds you automatically move so the move button was taken out. So there are only two buttons in Hook Worlds that control the gameplay. The left button controls the unique abilities while the right button lets you control the grappling hook. Controls work smoothly without any glitches.

Sound

Rocket Cat Games is also known for delivering great games with great music so it came as no surprise when we found out the music was excellent. In Hook Worlds every world has their own tune that?s catchy and fits the world, like in Cyber Gnome you get techno music style tracks. And yes, iPod music integration is included with the game that allows you to listen to your own music, that is, if you can manage to find a better techno tune for Cyber Gnome to listen to that while being chased by the gnome cop!

Conclusion

Rocket Cat Games has once again delivered a top notch quality game with Hook Worlds. It makes us sad to think that this will be the last hook racing game in the franchise, as the developer has indicated. So enjoy it while you still can! Hook Worlds has fair amount of gameplay, great replay value, catchy tunes, superb graphics all bundled into one and for $1 this is a steal!

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: - 5 - Like the other Hook games the graphics in HW is nothing but goodness.Sound: - 5 - Very catchy tunes and option to listen to you favorite music.Controls: - 5 - Very simple and easy to understand.Gameplay: - 5 - Nothing short of perfect. Provides endless amount of fun.

Playing Hints and Tips:

- Always pay attention to the pillars with the arrows since they point you towards the way you supposed to go.

-Try playing with you index finger since that makes hooking a lo more easier.